Delian League

The Delian League, also known as the Athenian Empire, was an association of Greek city-states that existed from 478 BC to 404 BC. It was founded by Athens and between 150 and 330 other city-states with the purpose of continuing the fight against Persia after the second Persian invasion was repelled in 479 BC. The Delian League counterattacked, and, from 477 to 449 BC, the Delian League continued to war with Persia. The result of the wars was the Persian loss of Thrace, the Aegean Sea, and the western coast of Asia Minor, and Callias II's peace treaty with Persia ended the Greco-Persian Wars. In 454 BC, the meeting place for the league was symbolically moved from the island of Delos to Athens, the central state in the alliance. By 431 BC, Athens' heavy-handed control of the league led to the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War, and the league was dissolved in 404 BC under the direction of the Spartan commander Lysander.